Uzbekistan is increasingly set on expanding regional trade and transport initiatives, which is also part of a wider regional trend. In September, Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, and his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliev, agreed to support regional transit projects as part of overall efforts to revive... MORE

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has maintained a cautiously optimistic but delicate balance to secure its existence amidst perilous surroundings. The first and most immediate dimension of this balancing act is the KRG’s precarious relationship with the... MORE

Hadramawt, located in eastern Yemen, is the country's largest governorate.  While the Hadramawt is a vast province that encompasses roughly 38,000 square miles, it is thinly populated with less than a million inhabitants. Continued stability in the governorate is critical because of the vital oil... MORE

The al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) has released a statement claiming the October 31 hostage-taking at Baghdad’s Sayidat al-Nejat (Our Lady of Salvation) Syriac Catholic Church was carried out in order to free two Egyptian Coptic women they allege are being held prisoner... MORE

Only a few days after the U.S. army ended its combat mission in Iraq came the declaration of a split within one of the most prominent insurgent groups, al-Jaysh al-Islami fi’l-Iraq (Islamic Army in Iraq - IAI). A group of IAI field fighters, calling themselves... MORE

The term “special groups” has been used by coalition forces in Iraq since 2006 in reference to splinter groups of Moqtada al-Sadr’s Jaish al-Mahdi (the Mahdi Army – JaM). These groups were accused of being controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and not following the... MORE

On October 11, Turkmen President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, visited Qatar and met with the country’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Khamad al-Tani, concluding a series of agreements in the energy, trade, and economic sphere (ITAR-TASS, October 11). The visit marks intensified efforts by Turkmenistan to diversify its... MORE

Russia may have refused to sell the S-300 missile to Iran, but it is hardly refraining from selling weapons to its traditional Middle Eastern friends. Despite its recent agreement to buy drones and other military equipment from Israel and a strong Israeli and US diplomatic... MORE

The lasting impact of the latest round of sanctions slapped on Iran in June by the United Nations Security Council followed by an additional and more stringent unilateral sanctions regime levied by the United States – the chief proponent of sanctions – and the European... MORE